Shared Hope International

Leading a worldwide effort to eradicate sexual slavery...one life at a time

  • The Problem
    • What is Sex Trafficking?
    • FAQs
    • Glossary of Terms
  • What We Do
    • Prevent
      • Training
      • Awareness
    • Restore
      • Programs
      • 3rd Party Service Providers
      • Stories of Hope
      • Partners
    • Bring Justice:Institute for Justice & Advocacy
      • Research
      • Report Cards
      • Training
      • Advocacy
  • Resources
    • All Resources
    • Internet Safety
    • Policy Research and Resources
    • Store
  • Take Action
    • Activism
    • Advocate
    • Just Like Me
    • Volunteer
    • Give
  • News&Events
    • Blog & Events
    • Media Center
    • Request a Speaker
    • Host an Event
    • Attend an Event
  • About
    • Our Mission and Values
    • Our Story
    • Financial Accountability
    • 2023 Annual Report
    • Leadership
    • Join Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • Conference
  • Donate
Home>Latest News

October 12, 2016 by Ernie Allen

MY NEW ROLE WITH SHARED HOPE

I was recently asked to serve as a Special Advisor to the President of Shared Hope International, Congresswoman Linda Smith, a request I easily accepted.   I met Linda when she came to Congress in 1995.  At the time, I was the President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and she and I would have an opportunity to work together on the protection of children during the next two decades.

ernie2From the day she arrived on Capitol Hill, it was clear that she cared about children and would be a tireless force for hidden victims everywhere. In 1998 she traveled to Mumbai and saw women and children enslaved in brothels, sold as commodities.  She was angry.  She returned home and undertook an unprecedented effort to evaluate the situation in her own country.  She found that this was not just a problem on the other side of the world; it was also a problem in the United States.  She turned her anger and indignation into action, founding Shared Hope International and beginning a nearly two decade long campaign to eradicate domestic minor sex trafficking.

Simultaneously, I launched an Exploited Child Unit and CyberTipline at NCMEC.   Because Linda and I shared the conviction that too little was being done, we worked together.  When she left Congress and focused her energy exclusively on Shared Hope, our collaboration continued.

Shared Hope has awakened policy makers and citizens.  It investigated buyers, facilitators and traffickers in four countries, concluding that sex trafficking is demand-driven.  It performed field research in 10 cities for the US Department of Justice, helping shape US policy.  It did much more.  Shared Hope is a leader in many areas, but I am particularly impressed by its extraordinary impact in three:  Changing laws, rescuing victims, and reducing demand.

  • Shared Hope’s Protected Innocence Challenge has resulted in new laws nationwide. Based on a legislative framework of 41 laws, Shared Hope reviews progress state-by-state each year and issues report cards.  The first year, 2011, 26 states received an F, in 2015, no states had an F grade.
  • Shared Hope is also a strong voice for victims. Rescue and rehabilitation services for victims were woefully inadequate.  Shared Hope advocated a victim-centered approach, creating shelters and services, keeping victims out of detention centers, ensuring they are eligible for restitution and other civil remedies, and more.  It is changing the way America assists these victims.
  • I am particularly enthusiastic about Shared Hope’s pioneering efforts to address demand. This problem persists because it is easy, low risk, enormously profitable and because there is massive demand for commercial sex with children and youth. Shared Hope has worked to ensure that laws are enforced that will hold a buyer of sex with a minor accountable for that act and be punished for the crime.

Shared Hope is a powerful voice and advocate for change.  I am proud to be able to play a role as a Special Advisor to its remarkable President, Congresswoman Linda Smith and look forward to our continued collaboration on behalf of children.

About the author:  Ernie Allen serves as an advisor to governments, law enforcement, technology companies and others on the digital economy, public-private partnerships and child protection.  Appointed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, he chairs a global initiative to combat online child abuse and exploitation for the British government.  He is a founder and the former President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.     

October 12, 2016 by Susanna Bean

Ernie Allen, Co-Founder of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Joins Shared Hope

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ernie Allen, widely recognized expert on child protection and former CEO and co-founder of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) joins Shared Hope International today as Special Advisor to the President.  This alignment brings together two prominent voices in the fight to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation both internationally and domestically.

“We sat down together years ago and found we were working to fight the demand for sex with children from different angles,” said Linda Smith, president and founder of Shared Hope International and former U.S. Congresswoman from Washington State. “Today we are joining forces to continue that work.”

Ernie Allen explained, “Shared Hope has leveraged its global experience fighting demand to lead the development of child sex trafficking laws across the nation that protect our children and punish the criminals who buy and sell sex with kids.  I am pleased that my experience, along with our common purpose and long history together in this fight, will bring about innovations in child protection.”

Ernie Allen joins Shared Hope at an important time. On Nov 17, Shared Hope will release the annual Protected Innocence Challenge state report cards on the sufficiency of laws to protect children and make child sex trafficking a serious crime.  The first year, 2011, 26 states received an F.  Missing and exploited children are frequently the victims of child sex trafficking, with NCMEC reporting 1 in 5 of the 11,800 reported children in 2015 were likely sex trafficking victims, up from 1 in 6 in 2014.  Shared Hope works with the state policymakers and advocates to enact strong laws based on research and action.

Shared Hope International is an international anti-trafficking organization focusing on prevention, restoration and justice for victims of sex trafficking.

 

October 12, 2016 by Susanna Bean

Ernie Allen, Co-Founder of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Joins Shared Hope

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ernie Allen, widely recognized expert on child protection and former CEO and co-founder of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) joins Shared Hope International today as Special Advisor to the President.  This alignment brings together two prominent voices in the fight to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation both internationally and domestically.

“We sat down together years ago and found we were working to fight the demand for sex with children from different angles,” said Linda Smith, president and founder of Shared Hope International and former U.S. Congresswoman from Washington State. “Today we are joining forces to continue that work.”

Ernie Allen explained, “Shared Hope has leveraged its global experience fighting demand to lead the development of child sex trafficking laws across the nation that protect our children and punish the criminals who buy and sell sex with kids.  I am pleased that my experience, along with our common purpose and long history together in this fight, will bring about innovations in child protection.”

Ernie Allen joins Shared Hope at an important time. On Nov 17, Shared Hope will release the annual Protected Innocence Challenge state report cards on the sufficiency of laws to protect children and make child sex trafficking a serious crime.  The first year, 2011, 26 states received an F.  Missing and exploited children are frequently the victims of child sex trafficking, with NCMEC reporting 1 in 5 of the 11,800 reported children in 2015 were likely sex trafficking victims, up from 1 in 6 in 2014.  Shared Hope works with the state policymakers and advocates to enact strong laws based on research and action.

Shared Hope International is an international anti-trafficking organization focusing on prevention, restoration and justice for victims of sex trafficking.

 

October 7, 2016 by Samantha

Condemning Pimping of Children on Backpage.com, finally.

On Thursday, news broke that Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer was arrested in Texas (on a California warrant) on felony charges of pimping a minor.  It’s about time.

It is rare to read a press release now that doesn’t mention Backpage.com as a factor in a child sex trafficking arrest. In fact, Shared Hope has tracked nearly 500 law enforcement press releases noting Backpage.com involvement.

Backpage.com has been fighting attempts by prosecutors, legislators and advocacy groups to stop the child sex trafficking that is occurring on their website and has been making them millions for years. Each day that passes sees more victims. Last month Shared Hope joined with leading advocacy organizations in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of child victims suing Backpage.com for allowing their exploitation to occur on its website. This is just the latest in a long fight to stop Internet exploitation of children, with Backpage.com being the giant in the online classified industry where this exploitation is widely taking place.

In addition, the U.S. Senate held Backpage.com in contempt of Congress in March after it refused to comply with a subpoena in its sex trafficking investigation. TheSenate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has compiled a report on Backpage.com’s activities that demonstrates a purposeful and diabolical strategy to capitalize on the demand for commercial sex with children, and to make as much money as possible from this activity: the true definition of a facilitator of child sex trafficking.  Backpage.com refused to testify at a hearing on the report in November 2015, leading to the Senate voting to issue a contempt order – the first time in 20 years – against CEO Carl Ferrer.  Backpage.com then used every possible legal procedure to stave off producing its corporate communications to the PSI, appealing all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where it finally ended with the order to comply.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris tells it like it is in the press release from her office: “Backpage and its executives purposefully and unlawfully designed Backpage to be the world’s top online brothel.”

Beyond the legal cases and breaking news is the reality of the thousands of vulnerable children being exploited on Backpage.com; many are still trapped and advertised on Backpage.com as you read this article.  As Shared Hope follows this case, we remain committed in our work to prevent the sale of children for sex, restoring survivors and bringing traffickers and predators to justice.

October 5, 2016 by Guest

Creating a county-wide CSEC MDT: Flying the plane as we are building it…

By Lisa Conn Akoni, MA, MFT; Rita McGaw, MS, MFT; Carrick Adam, MD, MSPH

Over the past few years, several of us from different county agencies have traveled to conventions, workshops, seminars, and trainings, learned from survivors, attended meet-and-greets, etc., and came to one central conclusion…

The only way we will be effective in delivering trauma-informed and victim-centered services throughout all partnering agencies, create systemic change, and provide a continuum of care that serves our population is if we collaborate!

Given the urgent need, we decided to “fly the plane as we build it.” We created a multidisciplinary team comprised of many county partners and local non-profits that are all using a trauma-informed lens (looking at a hierarchy of needs) and using a bio/psycho/social approach to prevention, intervention, investigation, prosecution and data collection.

We have worked very hard to unify our expertise and get people in the same room hearing the same educational messages. From that point of reference, we built a fantastic collaboration which is now accomplishing great things – thanks to the commitment of multiple agencies.

About the authors: Lisa is the Supervisor and program developer for the R.I.S.E. Project. Carrick is a Medical Director working with adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system. Rita is a Victim Witness Program Supervisor. They work together in Santa Barbara County to create systemic change in the county’s response to exploited and abused youth.

This blog post was originally part of our 2016 JuST Conference Speaker Blog Series.

  • < Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • …
  • 120
  • Next Page >
  • What We Do
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Take Action
  • Donate
Shared Hope International
Charity Navigator Four-Star Rating

STORE | WEBINARS | REPORTCARDS | JuST CONFERENCE
 
Donate

1-866-437-5433
Facebook X Instagram YouTube Linkedin

Models Used to Protect Identities.

Copyright © 2025 Shared Hope International      |     P.O. Box 1907 Vancouver, WA 98668-1907     |     1-866-437-5433     |     Privacy Policy   |   Terms of Service

Manage your privacy
SHARED HOPE INTERNATIONAL DOES NOT SELL YOUR DATA. To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}
Shared Hope InternationalLogo Header Menu
  • The Problem
    • What is Sex Trafficking?
    • FAQs
    • Glossary of Terms
  • What We Do
    • Prevent
      • Training
      • Awareness
    • Restore
      • Programs
      • 3rd Party Service Providers
      • Stories of Hope
      • Partners
    • Bring Justice:Institute for Justice & Advocacy
      • Research
      • Report Cards
      • Training
      • Advocacy
  • Resources
    • All Resources
    • Internet Safety
    • Policy Research and Resources
    • Store
  • Take Action
    • Activism
    • Advocate
    • Just Like Me
    • Volunteer
    • Give
  • News&Events
    • Blog & Events
    • Media Center
    • Request a Speaker
    • Host an Event
    • Attend an Event
  • About
    • Our Mission and Values
    • Our Story
    • Financial Accountability
    • 2023 Annual Report
    • Leadership
    • Join Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • Conference
  • Donate